‘This is a day of liberation’: Survivors testify in Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy case

As a young Catholic, Thomas Carney said, he was taught that God was omnipotent and omnipresent and would not allow his followers to be harmed.

Carney said he put his trust in those including his pastor, only to experience sexual abuse. He said he’s undergone therapy for more than 30 years.

His body remains alive, he said, but his purpose for living is lost.

“The nightmares are still alive and well in my brain,” Carney said. “On the day that I was sexually victimized, my life changed forever.”

Carney was one of six survivors of childhood sexual abuse who spoke in federal court on Monday during a specially set hearing in the Archdiocese of Baltimore bankruptcy case designed to increase engagement and understanding in the process. In front of Archbishop William Lori, who was seated at a table in the front of the courtroom, they recalled the victimization that they endured as children and recounted how it altered their lives.

“Today is a listening session,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michelle M. Harner said as she opened the court proceedings. “An opportunity for individuals to be heard.”

The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy right before a new state law, the Child Victims Act of 2023, was set to go into effect. The measure allows more survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue and would have opened up the church to a number of lawsuits.

The move also came after the Maryland Office of the Attorney General released a more than 450-page report that outlined decades of allegations of sexual abuse and cover-ups within the archdiocese.

Survivors have until May 31 to file a claim in the bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the archdiocese and its parishes have brought a complaint against their insurance carriers alleging breach of contract.

Harner set aside two hours for the statements. She scheduled a second hearing for May 20.

The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors represents survivors in the bankruptcy and asked the judge to block out time for testimony. The archdiocese endorsed the request.

The chair of the creditors’ committee, Paul Jan Zdunek, delivered opening and closing remarks and described the hearing as an opportunity to “share the humanity behind the headlines” and “the faces beyond the finances.”

“As we all continue to move through the legal journey ahead, we must remember that these were not just stories about moments in time — but are moments in time that have been seared into the souls of these now adult children,” Zdunek said.

“While some of them may have forgiven their predators, none of them will ever forget what happened to them,” he added. “And neither should we.”

Gregory Valancius recounted how he was 9 in 1968 when a new priest, the Rev. Walter Emala, started at Our Lady Queen of Peace in Middle River.

Emala, he said, was friendly and disarming. He asked him if he wanted to help deliver envelopes one weekend.

Valancius recalled that the priest directed him to go the bedroom and get undressed. That’s when Emala, he said, got into bed and climbed on top of him.

“I was terrified,” Valancius said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”

When he served as an altar boy, Valancius said, the priest would go into the room where they changed and further victimized him.

The experiences, he said, left him feeling different and depressed. Valancius said he lost his self-esteem and feared affection and intimacy.

Emala is one of 156 people listed as abusers in the attorney general’s report. He died in 2008.

Later, Teresa Lancaster, a survivor, activist and attorney in Maryland, spoke about the sexual abuse that she said she experienced at the hands of the Rev. A. Joseph Maskell, who worked as a chaplain and counselor at Archbishop Keough High School.

At least 39 people have reported that Maskell sexually abused them or others they know, according to the report. He’s a subject of the Netflix documentary series “The Keepers” and died in 2001.

Maskell, she said, “abused with impunity” and “could have been stopped.”

“Childhood sexual abuse is soul murder,” Lancaster said.

Another woman, Eva Dittrich, who reported that Maskell sexually abused her, recounted his actions. He called her a whore destined to burn in hell but stated that he would try and cleanse her of her sins, she said.

For 50 years, Dittrich said, she was forced to somehow survive the nightmares about her sexual abuse.

“This is a day of liberation for me,” Dittrich said. “I was a victim. I was not a whore.”

“I can now finally step forward and learn to love myself,” she added.

Dittrich embraced Lori and Bishop Adam Parker after her statement.

The director of the archdiocese’s Office of Child and Youth Protection, Jerri Burkhardt, was also in attendance.

Following the hearing, Frank Schindler, a spokesperson for the Maryland chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, declared that “this is a momentous week for child sexual abuse survivors.”

“We hope that our struggle will continue to go forward,” Schindler said. “We hope that justice will be done for all child sexual abuse survivors.”

Investigations into the Diocese of Wilmington and Archdiocese of Washington are ongoing.

Meanwhile, Lori told reporters outside the Edward A. Garmatz U.S. Courthouse that he was “deeply moved” from the testimony. He said he came as a priest and pastor and hoped that he could contribute in some way to the healing of the survivors.

Lori said he’s stated that he’s sorry many times and will continue to do so until the end of his life.

“But I recognize that no apology of mine undoes what was done,” he said.

Dylan Segelbaum

dylan.segelbaum@thebaltimorebanner.com

Dylan Segelbaum is the courts reporter at The Baltimore Banner.

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